Fifth Posting

This week I decided to blog about an article that I recently read on sciencenewsforkids.com. It was called Homework Blues, and it discussed the affect of a person’s mood on their ability to solve problems. The researchers performed two experiments to collect data. In the first experiment they took 30 kids, ages 10 and 11, and they gave them 20 problems. For one round of experimentation, they were put in a room with upbeat music playing, affecting their mood in a positive way, and for the second round, they were put in a room with gloomy music playing, making their mood more sad. The data showed that when the kids were in the room with sad music they were able to solve the problems at least a second quicker and they were able to get more of their answers correct. In the second experiment, 61 kids, ages 6 and 7, were faced with the same scenario. Once again, the kids who felt sad or neutral performed better and more quickly on the problems. I found this article really interesting, because I didn’t realize that mood could affect your performance in school and at home. I found this concept a bit puzzling at first, but after thinking about it for a while, I realized that when I am happy I feel more easily distracted and I have more trouble focusing on my homework, so it really does make sense. This was a very interesting and thought-provoking article that I really enjoyed reading.